BY DYLAN HEPPERT
Around $10,000 in damage to Wadsworth High School has become the result of a recent internet trend.
This trend began when a Tik-Tok user took a video of a box of disposable masks that they stole from their school, showcasing their absolutely ‘devious lick.’ After this became viral with about 2.5 million views, a trend was born. This trend resulted in bathroom vandalism in schools across the country.
The main point of the challenge is to vandalize or steal from school bathrooms. Items that have been stolen from Wadsworth High School bathrooms include soap dispensers and paper towels. As the trend grew more popular, students then began to vandalize bathrooms in other ways. Mr. Chris Sieber, Wadsworth’s Assistant Principal, says that urinals and stalls have been torn off of walls.
“We’ve literally had stall walls ripped off the wall,” said Sieber. “Stalls themselves have been vandalized to the point where they are completely damaged.”
The 1400 wing boys’ bathroom has been shut down because the damage done was so severe. All bathroom vandalism at Wadsworth High School has been contained to boys’ bathrooms.
“The doors in the sit down bathrooms have been kicked in and destroyed,” said Sieber. “Right now we are looking in the tune of almost $10,000 worth of damage done.”
In some places the challenge moved on to buildings beyond schools, including movie theaters and offices.
The new hallway pass system at Wadsworth High School is a direct result of the new trend. It is designed to monitor students in order to get leads and prevent vandalism, but it is also used to easily find students if the office, or their parents need them.
“We’re trying to keep an eye on where people are going,” said Sieber. “But the other thing is, it does help us say if there is a need to get a student, we know where we can try to locate you.”
The new system uses Google Forms that students are required to fill out before they leave their classroom and when they return. The form can be accessed by scanning a QR code posted on most teachers’ doors. It requires the student to report if they are leaving or returning to class, and where they are headed or where they came from. This information, as well as the time of submission is recorded when the form is submitted, so the administration can track when students are gone.
It also replaces an old hallway pass system in the form of a Google Sheet. Sieber believes that it is much easier for students to scan a QR code with their phones, then to have teachers scrolling through long lists of names on a shared document.
“We’re always trying to find things that help make things more efficient, but at the same time make things easier,” said Sieber.
Mr. Sieber says that the new hallway pass system is here to stay, at least for the near future.
